The joint venture behind the Ossian floating wind project, off Scotland, has agreed a data sharing partnership with the British Geological Survey (BGS).
Sharing the data will support the BGS’s work to understand Earth’s geological and environmental processes.
Ossian, a joint venture between SSE Renewables, Marubeni and CIP, will provide BGS with information from its geophysical surveys examining the seabed around its 858 sq km site which is situated 84 km off the east coast of Scotland.
The BGS provides geoscientific data, information and knowledge to help society use natural resources responsibly, manage environmental change effectively and be resilient to environmental hazards.
The Ossian site’s seabed, around 72 metres below sea level, would once have been completely covered by ice.
The geophysical data collected by Ossian will allow scientists to understand more about its composition and how this has changed over time due to environmental changes and challenges.
BGS will now be able to advance its knowledge and understanding of the rock and soil units under the seabed and update its baseline data for the region to the benefit of the offshore industry as a whole.
BGS has worked with Ossian joint venture partner SSE Renewables on data sharing initiatives for more than a decade.
Ossian is the first floating ScotWind project to formalise a partnership with the organisation which relies on the support of private sector companies to help maintain the most up to date modelling.
Ossian will continue to explore further collaboration opportunities with BGS, which will include educational initiatives.
David Willson, Ossian’s senior project manager, said: “At Ossian collaboration is a key project value.
“As one of the first floating wind farms of commercial scale, we will be developing and testing new techniques and technologies and we recognise the positive impact that working collaboratively can have on the wider sector and the UK’s push to reach net zero.”
Gareth Carter, marine geoscientist at BGS, added: “This new agreement with Ossian will provide us with invaluable insight which will improve our geological understanding of the wider project site.
“Through this collaborative venture, we will be able to update our models and understanding of the ground conditions across the region, which will benefit all stakeholders in the offshore sector.”